Wooden golf-club.



No. 682,960 Patented Sept. l7, I901. F. L. SLAZENGER.

WOODEN GOLF [H.UB. (App lication filed Dec. 26, 1900.1 (No Model.)

INVENTOR WITNESSES V Jaw/z fla UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK LEGH SLAZENGER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

WOODEN GOLF-CLUB.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 682,960, dated.September 17, 1901. Application filed December 26, 1900. Serial No. (N0m To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK LEGH SLAZEN- GER, a subject of Victoria, Queenof Great Britain and Ireland, residing at New York, in the county of NewYork and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Wooden Golf-Clubs; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements ingolf-clubs, but more particularly .has reference to the construction ofwooden clubs, such as drivers and brassies.

The object of my invention is to produce a wooden club in which thereshall be a perfect continuity of contact between the Wood of the shaftand the head without the application of glue or cord winding or metallicparts, so that the full benefits of the elasticity of the wood may beobtained, while at the same time great accuracy may be attained instriking the ball. 7

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of thisapplication,Fignre 1 is aperspective of a wooden golf-club as it appearswhen made in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectionalelevation of such club; and Fig. 3 is a view of the shaft and head indetached condition prior to assembling, the heel of the head beingbroken away to show the socketed and threaded portion.

Similar numbers of reference denote like parts in the several figures ofthe drawings.

Prior to my invention wooden golf-clubs have sometimes been made bysinking a tapering socket in a properly-shaped head and then gluing thetapered end of the shaft within said socket, this style of club beingused in place of the ordinary spliced club; but in driving a golf-ballit is highly essential to get the advantages of the life and elasticityof the wood, and this is impossible in the instance of the ordinarysocket-club, where the shaft is glued within the socket in the head,since the glue breaks the proper contact between the wood of the shaftand the wood of the head and as a consequence the life and elasticity ofthe wood are greatly interfered with. Moreover, the tapering socketafiords an inadequate surface contact between the head and the shaft,and this weakens the club, detracts from its power, and when the gluebecomes dried out and broken the head will fly off, and this is anoccurrence which is impossible in the instance of a club made inaccordance with my present invention. It is a recognized fact that glueused in the construction of golf-clubs in this manner renders the clubdefective and also does not insure a permanent and perfect union betweenthe shaft and head, since the shaft frequently works loose, therebyrendering the club for the time beinguseless. Golf-clubs have also beenmade in which a metal shank has been secured to the wooden head, saidshank being provided with the interiorly-threaded socket, into which asteel shaft has been driven, but such a club possesses none of theadvantages which distinguish the ordinary wooden club, since there is nocontinuity whatever'between the shaft and the wooden head, the drivingpower of the club is greatly lessened, a wooden shaft cannot be usedadvantageously, owing to the fact that the con- I tact of the wood withthe metal renders the club dead, and the benefit of a particular kind ofwood in the head and a particular kind of material in the shaft cannotbe obtained, since there is no connection whatever between the head andthe shaft save by an intermediate foreign substance. This will beapparent to and will be admitted by any one who understands the game ofgolf and the nature and advantages of the usual wooden driving-clubs.The end aimed at by all makers of good wooden clubs is to obtain theadvantages of a ue-piece club with the additional advantages of a headmade from one approved kind of wood and a shaft made of another approvedkind of wood. My i11- vention aims to overcome these defects, as will beclearly understood from the following description.

1 is a properly-shaped head for a wooden golf-club; 2, the shankthereof; ,3,'a socket sunk therein at the proper depth'and angle, and 4is the shaft. Golf-clubs'are made for both right-handed and left-handedmen; but I have shown in the drawings and will herein describe myimproved club as made for the use of a right-handed man, it beingclearly understood that for a left-handed man the threads in the socketand on the shaft will be of the opposite nature.

is a left handed thread cut on the end of the shaft, and 6 is also aleft-handed thread out within the inner walls of the socket. Inassembling my improvement the threaded shaft is screwed within thesocket until the I end of said shaft abuts against the bottom of thesocket, and the club is then complete and ready for use. The threadedsocket extends down the shank and into the head proper of the club, andthis not only adds to the strength and power of the club butalso givesthe player a better control of the club. By extending the socket downthe shank and into The body of the head of the club the lower portion ofthis socket is immediately behind the vertical plane of the driving-faceof the club, and this adds greatly to the driving power of the club,while at the same time there can be no shivering of the shaft when theball is struck near the neck or nose of the head, and the danger ofbreakinga shaft is reduced to a minimum. In using the club continuedblows upon the face thereof cannot loosen the shaft, because they tendtocause said shaft to be screwed more tightly within the socket, andtherefore I have done away with the serious defects incident to the useof glue, while at the same time I obtain all the benefits of the lifeand elasticity of wood. Moreover, should the shaft become broken. it mayeasily be unscrewed from the socket and a new shaft substitutedtherefor, or should the head break a favorite shaft may be retained byscrewing the same within a new head.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new,and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-- In a wooden golf-club, the combination ofthe wooden head having integral therewith a shank which projectsupwardly from the heel end of said head and which is provided with aninteriorly-threaded socket that extends from the top of said shank downinto the body of said head soas to be immediately behind thedriving-face of the latter, a wooden shaft having its lower end threadedand adapted to be driven into said socket so that its inner FRANK LEGIISLAZENGER.

Wi tn esses:

J. GARRETT, L. SAX-SMYTH.

